Miami (AFP) – Adam Schenk battled through blustery conditions in Sunday’s final round to capture the Bermuda Championship for his first US PGA Tour title. With winds gusting up to 40 mph, the 33-year-old American fired a level par 71 to finish 72 holes on 12-under 272 at Port Royal in Southampton, Bermuda. That was good enough for a one-stroke victory over countryman Chandler Phillips.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” Schenk said. “It seemed like it was the longest day ever but it also seems like it just started. I just kept plugging along.” Schenk sank a clutch five-foot par at the 18th hole after firing his approach over the green. After years of imagining putts to win titles in the barn of his family’s Indiana sod farm, Schenk said, “To see one go in was something I’ll never forget.”
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Schenk, ranked 246th in the world, had his best previous PGA finish in eight tour seasons as second in 2023 when he lost a playoff at Colonial to Argentine Emiliano Grillo. He sank an eight-foot birdie putt at the par-four fifth but made bogey at the par-four 15th to keep a slim lead in the brutal island breezes. He missed a six-foot birdie putt at the par-five 17th but rolled a long putt from the rear fringe at 18 near the hole and managed to sink a dream putt he thought at one point might never come.
“I really didn’t,” he said. “I started playing better golf the last four months. I still always had a little bit of the belief but when I was missing seven cuts out of eight, it’s kind of hard to keep the belief alive a little bit. But I’ve been working really hard. I knew I could win. It was just a matter of executing each shot and handling every situation I put myself in and I did it.”
Japan’s Takumi Kanaya shared third on 274 with Americans Max McGreevy, Vince Whaley, Alex Smalley, and Frankie Capan.
© 2024 AFP
